Johnson and Earnhardt Jr. Optimistic Ahead of Dover

Jamie Squire/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — The race for the Sprint Cup championship heads to Dover International Speedway this weekend with eight remaining in the chase.

Jimmie Johnson sits atop the points lead and says Dover has always been good to his team.

“It’s been a great track for us,” said Johnson. “If we can run up front and kind of control the race and control who we are racing around, I feel like hopefully we can distance ourselves.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. still believes his team has a chance sitting in the seventh spot.

“We’re not out of it by no means,” said Earnhardt Jr. “We feel like we’ve got a lot of racing left and a lot of opportunities.”

Jeff Gordon will have some work to do sitting in twelfth, but raced well at Dover earlier in the season.

“We’ve been good there at times, but it’s been awhile since we’ve been good there like we were earlier this year,” said Gordon. “If we can back that up, this could be the best opportunity we’ve had in a long time to win at Dover.”